The Propagandist's Allies rage, rage against the dying of the light. Stupid darkness. You really should know better. You're about to get your ass kicked.
Here are the latest dispatches from our starwalt comrades:
Child marriage is nothing other than the institutionalization of child abuse. It's a system to keep women in their place so that when they are handed over to some old brute while they are still girls, by the time they understand the crime committed against them they are trapped in permanent surrender of their most basic rights. It's a disgusting practice and a smear on what we purport to be human civilization, in that it continues to occur at the behest of parents, relatives and communities in many countries at the rate of 100 million girls who will be married off over the next decade. I don't like it. And I explain why in this article at Butterflies and Wheels this week:
Last year, at a women’s community centre in Kabul I met Hamida.* A Herati, she was staying with relatives in the teeming capital, after her husband left her destitute when he left to go work in Iran, where she suspected he maintained another family. She had been married to him for seven years before divorcing him three years ago. In her married life, she had experienced extraordinary abuse at the hands of both her husband and
The Propagandist's Lauryn Oates makes a stop at Butterflies and Wheels to talk about the links between the horrors we once thought we left behind, but tragically remain with us. The silence is deafening. From Hundreds Of Rocks Are Thrown At Her Head:
The crime? The couple fell in love and attempted to elope, beyond a community where relationships based on mutual love and attraction, and not on money and perversion, might have a chance of fulfillment.
The BBC has short clips of the horrific murders, noting that “most of the video is too graphic to be shown.”
...
Today is the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, an occasion that should perhaps inspire a solemn reminder to confront atrocities and crimes against humanity. Nearly 70 years have passed since the Holocaust and the declaration of “never again”, which set the stage for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. How is it that we continue to condone the barbaric treatment of human beings
The Propagandist is pleased to let you know about an important event coming to Vancouver, BC. If you're anywhere in the vicinity of the Pacific Northwest, you don't want to miss this lecture:
Location: University of British Columbia, Room BUCH A102, 1866 Main Mall, Vancouver BC
Ophelia Benson is editor of www.butterfliesandwheels.com, deputy editor ofThe Philosophers' Magazine and co-author, with Jeremy Stangroom, of " Why Truth Matters " and co-author of " Does God Hate Women? " She is also a frequent contributor to Free Inquiry.
Her talk is based on the subject of her book " Does God Hate Women? " She will be discussing the part religion plays in the oppression of women. After her talk, there will be a Q and A with the audience. ...More >>
Well, I should clarify that it's in fact only 16 women who will work in supermarkets. The women will be cashiers as part of a pilot project undertaken by the Panda supermarkets chain. Yet, even that is causing an outrage:
A conservative Islamic educator has already called for a boycott of Panda due to the mixing
It's a familiar story: a timid attempt is made to bring women into public life, in however small a way. There is a backlash from the ruling fundamentalists, who see the status quo upset. Men and women will be freely mixing. The next thing you know, they will be tearing off their clothes and running naked through the grocery aisles, doing crude things with each other, maybe even with cucumbers and carrots.
On the surface, it appears as if the fundamentalists who advocate...More >>
The Propagandist's Allies rage, rage against the dying of the light. Stupid darkness. You really should know better. You're about to get your ass kicked.
The Propagandist's 
The Propagandist is pleased to let you know about an important event coming to Vancouver, BC. If you're anywhere in the vicinity of the Pacific Northwest, you don't want to miss this lecture: 
In Saudi Arabia, one of the most progressive experiments in ages is taking place. Are you sitting down for this? Wait for it. Wait for it.
